The Reason He Calls Her Ugly
by LadyMonochromia
Summary: Naruto suddenly corners the unsuspecting ANBU Root member and demands to know why. Rating may change in the future, be warned.
1. Chapter 1

It's been a while since this team was formed, with Sasuke leaving the village and Kakashi doing God knows what. Captain Yamato was an okay guy, Naruto would say. He managed to keep his cool even when Sakura, Sai and he fought over silly things all throughout their first mission together. Sai on the other hand, let's just say they aren't really on good terms with his striking resemblance to Sasuke, his weird need to plant a plastic smile to his paper white face and the insults he threw every single chance he had.

Now, the current topic is why the hell Sai would call Sakura 'Ugly'. Beyond the wide forehead that she keeps fussing about ever since even from before Team Kakashi was formed, he could say that she was not ugly in the slightest! That's what Naruto's going to find out, even if Sai calls him 'Dickless'.

They were all walking home when somehow the Ino-Shika-Cho team had invited them to join them to the BBQ Restaurant Asuma had promised to pay for. One way or another, Sai had decided upon himself to call Ino 'Beautiful'. Oh, that got Sakura riled up and the two girls bickered. Sai even went as far as to almost call the Akamichi child 'Fat' and you should know what happens next.

Naruto cornered the ANBU Root member while they all parted ways to return home and deliberately shouted, "why did you call Sakura-chan ugly?"

Sai stared at him with the blank eyes and plastic smile, "well, I read it from this book that you nickname someone with the opposite of their trait, so, because Sakura-san is beyond the epitome of beautiful, I nicknamed her Ugly, is there a problem, Dickless?"

"Well then", Naruto said grievously. "Why didn't you say so?" Sai shook his head.

"I don't see the need to tell her that, assuming the situations we are all in now". Naruto laughed, "but don't you want to tell that to Sakura at least once? That you think she's beautiful, I mean".

"I do, but it might make things awkward, wouldn't it? And I am sure Sakura-san would find it incredibly suspicious if I outright complimented her like that", Sai got off the wall he was leaning on and started to walk away, Naruto tagging along. The two of them were walking together to Sai's place now, walking amongst the loud and lively villagers of the night. As lively the Leaf Village would be in the day, there was also the unmistakably lively villagers that brought the village alive at night. Street vendors were open and aligned both sides of the streets, restaurants crowded with customers and staff rushing about. The streets were also full of civilians and ninja out and about with their lives, greeting each other as they went.

"I wouldn't think so, actually". Sai gave a thoughtful look, slowing to a stop when they reached his apartment complex. "I'll think about it, Dickless. Good evening, see you tomorrow".

"See ya later, Sai-teme", Naruto waved just like how Kakashi would, the lazy half wave and quickly disappeared in the crowd. Sai turned away and went up the many staircases to his apartment, lots of questions running in his head. What the hell did Naruto mean by that?

* * *

Sakura tucked stray strands of hair behind an ear, opting to tie up her lengthening hair out of her face. The night was young but her training session with Tsunade was wearing her down thin. She needed a nice bubble bath, a good book and hot chocolate. Thank Kami that Tsunade deemed it appropriate that Sakura had the day off tomorrow, meaning she wouldn't need to see Sai and Naruto. There are no hard feelings, really. She really needed the day to herself tomorrow. She was still deciding what to do for tomorrow when she heard Naruto's boisterous laughter fill the air, "well then, why didn't you say so?"

"I don't see the need to tell her that, assuming the situations we are all in now", that soft melodious voice replied. Sakura's steps halted. Sai and Naruto? They're _talking_? About a girl?! Sakura made sure her chakra signature was masked, and hid herself, following Sai and Naruto. Hopefully they'll not notice.

"But don't you want to tell that to Sakura at least once? That you think she's beautiful, I mean", Naruto asked. So that's what they talk a- what?! A blush quickly dusted her cheeks, no. She's just imagining this, hearing things, isn't she? There's no way- "I do, but it might make things awkward, wouldn't it? And I am sure Sakura-san would find it incredibly suspicious if I outright complimented her like that".

Okay, this is _such_ a good time to abort this little eavesdropping of hers. Sakura quickly disappeared from the scene, heading straight past the two shinobi to her house. They hadn't noticed her presence at all, good.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura woke up with a jerk, shaking her head. This is ridiculous, she's totally overreacting. It's not like she doesn't know men sometimes find her attractive. Moreover, Sai is _not_ another Sasuke. A sigh escaped past her lips, she got out of her bed and started her daily morning rituals before slipping into her red civilian shirt and black hot pants, shorter than her standard ninja attire. She hummed as she jogged down the stairs and straight into the kitchen.

Grabbing a bowl, a box of cereal and a carton of milk from its place, she sat down and poured herself her breakfast. She stilled lived in the Haruno residence despite the fact that her parents were no longer alive. They were murdered by enemy ninja while they were travelling to visit a friend. The house was the only place that reminded her of her parents. She did have her episodes once in a while but everyone is allowed to grieve, aren't they? Sakura leisurely finished her breakfast and washed it down with a glass of fresh orange. Her eyes wandered to the clock and pouted. It was way too early for her liking. 6:30am, it said.

She decided to go out for a short training session, just because she was having the day off doesn't exactly mean she gets to slack off in taking care of her physique. She slipped on her shoes and left the house. A soft smile graced her face. She loved the humid fresh air of the mornings accompanied by the twittering of birds, it always calmed her down on a bad day. There wasn't many that was out and about, most of them setting up their shops and preparing for a long day ahead. Sakura always made a point to greet them or help around when she was free. They were friends of her parents, too, so what could go wrong?

Past the civilian neighbourhood, Sakura reached the training grounds. She picked a random training ground and promptly started to stretch, humming to herself. Once she was done, she took off in a slow jog before gradually sprinting around the training ground. When running started to bore Sakura, she started working on other aspects of her strengths; accuracy, agility, damage hits and speed.

Before she knew it, it was almost noon. Exhausted from her intense self-training session, she took refuge under a tree. Her back leaned against the tree bark and her legs spread in front of her and crossed at the ankles. Sakura was sweating from head to toe and she didn't feel like moving any time soon. The silence around her was occasionally disturbed by the sounds of nature and her deep and heavy panting.

A loud growl came from her stomach.

The dark haired albino studied his living space. The walls were lined with many paintings and sketches of many random things. Recently though, he found his work solely focused on a certain kunoichi. Even so, they were always left unfinished. He could never find it in himself to add the finishing touches, suddenly doubting his ability as an artist.

But the cycle never ends.

He, more often than not, captured her image in his memory and print them onto his canvas and left them somewhere tucked in his humble abode. He decided to clean up the growing amount of his works. He took most of the day just doing that.

Now tired from just cleaning up his apartment, Sai decided it was time for a well-deserved meal- after a bath of course. Sai dressed down to nothing and quickly showered, already thinking of what he was going to eat.

For some odd reason, Sai felt like using the longer route to his intended destination. Meaning he'd have to pass through training grounds before actually even smelling the scent of food waft into his nose. That was saying something since Sai is a specially trained ANBU operative. He followed the long route, his bag of weapons and scrolls faithfully strapped to his back. The day wasn't too hot out and was somewhat windy. The leaves were swaying wistfully, dancing to unheard music. It wasn't long before the familiar scent of roses and something girly attacked the ninja's nose. Sai instantly perked up and looked around, pinpointing the source of the scent.

"Hello, Ugly", he said upon nearing a certain tree. The said kunoichi with the unfortunate nickname looking up from where she sat with a perplexed expression. "Sai".

"What are you doing- are you here to train?" She eyed him, helping herself up. Her palm itched to slap her face. Quite frankly, he would train at a training ground.

"No, I was just passing by", the boy said, watching the girl as she stretched. He couldn't help but realize she was showing more leg than the usual. Her ruffled state drew him in, oddly, and Sai felt as though he was in an awkward situation. Though tgat didn't mean the teen before him was feeling awkward. "Did you train alone?"

"Yeah", she nodded. Suddenly something growled, making Sai snap into attention and the pink haired teammate of his to turn several shades of red. Sai's head tilted ever so slightly to the side, "have you had lunch, Ugly?"

Sakura raised a brow, "no, not yet at least, I was just on my way". His face scrunched up, as though he was struggling with himself, "would you.. care to join me, then? I was planning to have lunch too".

She didn't think much of it, momentarily forgetting the conversation she overheard yesterday, "sure". She was willing to be civil with him anyway. Despite the name-calling. She couldn't afford to be immature about something like that.

* * *

The two of thetm found themselves sitting across each other at a teahouse famous for their wonderful snacks and delicious tea. It was affordable by Sakura, but she still thought that the place was a little pricey. Sai, probably from somewhere he read, paid for both their meals anyway.

She was surprised to know that aside all the sharp words Sai always spoke, he was a relatively awkward person. She always caught herself smiling or laughing at his awkwardness. They were still talking about random subjects as they walked back home. Too immersed in their conversation, they didn't really take notice that most of the oest of the Konoha 12 had seen them walking together in 'peace'.

"Did you just see what I saw?" Ino asked.

Tenten nodded, her jaw slightly going slack, "you bet I did".

Shikamaru, who had somehow got dragged along with the girls, sighed. He can already feel relltalw signs of an oncoming headache. "Troublesome".

"See you tomorrow then, Sai?" She said as soon as they were nearing her street- where the Haruno residence stood erect amidst the civilian neighbourhood.

"Yes, we are having more training sessions tomorrow with Dickless and Captain Yamato, aren't we?" He clarified, he no longer took to smiling the plastic smile he usually wore recently. Sakura had almost threatened him to stop him from doing that. Now he looked like a boy sans emotion, which was true in a sense. His face was _stiff_. Sakura could deal with that, at least he didn't fake a smile.

"Yup, goodnight, Sai. I actually had fun today".

Sakura was glad she got out of the house to train. Sai was glad he went the long route. There finally some semblance of peace between them. At the very least, they understood each other.

* * *

**Thank you so much, _guest_. I actually didn't think I was going to get any feedback until, like, a few more chapters into the story. I'll try to update more frequently since it's sem break for me :)**

**I do not own Naruto.**


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